There has been a year-to-year increase in the number of web sites at which large volumes of data are available. These web sites manage data by sorting it to a plurality of web pages. In many cases, the web sites also prepare pages describing the web page connecting structure (hereinafter referred to as site maps) in order to show what data is available at the sites and to facilitate data access.
Conventional site maps, however, do not efficiently catalog the data that is available at sites, nor do they show where the data is located at the sites. This is because the sites do not effectively utilize page attributes such as, for example, keywords embedded in pages, the sizes of files, the number of files, and the dates on which files are updated. FIG. 1 shows an example of a technique used for page attributes. The example in FIG. 1 is typical of the search pages prepared by web sites to show what information is available at the sites. Here, keywords, which are one type of page attributes used at web sites, are displayed in alphabetical order. In FIG. 1, an area 110 is a typical web browser title and menu bar display area, and in an area 120, information available at the specific web site is displayed. In the search page example, when a graphic icon 130, “A,” for example, is selected (clicked on) by using a mouse, keywords used at the web site that begin with an A are displayed in an area 140. When an entry (underlined text) linked to a keyword is clicked on, a web page corresponding to the entry is displayed on the browser.
However, merely providing a list of page attributes for a user is not sufficient, since the list will not help the user understand how the information is assembled and correlated with the page structure of the web site. In the above example, since the list of keywords is not presented in conjunction with a site map, helpful information as to the location and the distribution of a specific keyword in the site structure, and when and how the keyword will appear, is not provided. That is, the conventional technique neither provides means for accurately determining whether the information a user desires is available, nor, if the information is available, where it is located.